


Heights

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Series: MacGyver Episode Tags [8]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 2x19, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Mac and Riles as brother and sister, Team as Family, scared!Mac, the world needs more mac and riles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 15:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: This is a tag to episode 2x19 (Benjamin Franklin + Grey Duffle)This is an extra scene of Riley comforting Mac both on the trampoline as it makes it's decent and after they have landed.





	Heights

“Jack, that’s enough popped balloons!” Riley yelled over the sound of Jack’s gunshots and his whoops of joy. The trampoline was steadily decreasing in altitude and if Jack kept shooting balloons they ran the risk of falling right out of the sky. Riley had already experienced the feeling of plummeting to the earth and was not eager to repeat it.

However, whatever nerves she was feeling was nothing compared to the nerves she could see on Mac’s face. Mac was still curled up on his side, facing her, with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Mac?” She called. If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge her. Riley had never seen Mac so afraid. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time when she had ever seen Mac afraid at all. He was constantly running headfirst into danger with a half-formed plan and he never seemed to experience any nerves.

The first day she’d known him, he’d jumped onto the wheel of a plane as it took off. He’d then proceeded to sabotage the plane that he was precariously hanging from. When she’d learned later that he was afraid of heights, she'd had a hard time believing it because he had jumped on that plane without a moment's hesitation.

Now, however, there were no doubts in her mind that Mac was indeed afraid of heights.

“Mac, we’re on our way down. It’s gonna be okay,” She tried again. This time, Mac gave her the tiniest of nods but did not open his eyes. One of his hands was holding onto the trampoline in a grip that looked like it hurt. The other hand was still gripping his swiss army knife. He’d pulled it out to try and fix their altitude problem before Jack had taken matters into his own hands.

Riley turned on her side and scooted slightly closer to Mac. She put one of her hands on his upper arm and put the other hand over his hand where it held the trampoline. Mac released his hold of the fabric and instead grabbed her hand. Riley tried not to wince at the strength in his grip.

Riley was reminded of another time, not too long ago, when she’d been holding someone’s hand as they fell out of the sky. She couldn’t believe that she had a job where she was put in that position twice in a matter of weeks.

“Mac, buddy, I think this might be my favorite of your insane ideas,” Jack said. He was clearly enjoying himself enough for both him and Mac.

“Jack, shut up,” Riley said when Mac only groaned.

“Sorry, I’m just enjoying for once in my life, not being the one scared senseless by Mac’s crazy ideas. Do you know how many times I’ve wished I could just curl up into a ball and close my eyes until he finished doing whatever he was doing?” Jack said, and Riley swore she saw Mac’s mouth quirk up in a small smile. “Besides, we’re almost to the ground,” Jack added after a few moments.

Riley lifted up her head and saw that he was right. They had passed through the clouds and she could now see trees off in the distance.

“He’s right Mac, we’re getting closer,” Riley said. She was trying to be reassuring, but instead of relaxing, Mac gripped her hand even tighter.

“Riley…” He said. “How’s our landing looking?”

Mac’s question sent a wave of alarm through Riley. She’s been so concerned with getting down that she hadn’t considered what the ground below them might look like. If they ended up landing in a populated area or in a forest or something it wasn’t going to end well. Riley exchanged a panicked look with Jack.

Jack gave a heavy sigh and as gently as possible scooted over to the edge of the trampoline. Mac winced every time the fabric shifted. Jack peeked over the side and examined the terrain. Riley gripped Mac’s hand with equal force until Jack rolled back fully onto the trampoline.

“Looks like we’ve hit wine country. So the good news is that we are likely to have a pretty flat landing.”

“Bad news is we are likely to destroy some poor farmer’s grapes?” Mac guessed. He looked considerably calmer and Riley was beginning to be able to feel her fingers again.

“Yes, these damages are coming out of your paycheck this time, bud,” Jack said with a grin that Mac didn’t see, but probably heard.

“Let’s just get to the ground safely first. Then we can talk about who pays what,” Riley reasoned.

“There’s that G word again,” Mac muttered. Riley caught Jack’s eye again and this time they both dissolved into barely contained laughter. “You two suck,” Mac said, still pouting, causing Riley and Jack to fight through another wave of laughter.

Keeping a hold of Mac’s hand, Riley shifted so that she could see the ground. It was indeed covered in rows of grape vines and approaching quickly. Riley figured that the impact would be a little jarring, but they should be able to land safely.

“Almost there, Mac,” Riley said, squeezing his hand.

“Just let me know when it’s over,” Mac said.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ll know, brother,” Jack responded.

Riley turned back to Mac and closed her own eyes. Her own nerves were increasing with every foot closer to the ground that they got. She was beginning to wish that Jack had popped fewer balloons so their decent would be slower. But, it was a little too late for that.

They hit the ground with a loud thud. The trampoline material stretched as they slammed to a stop, making the initial impact softer than expected. But then, the bouncy trampoline snapped back and threw them all off of it. Riley lost her grip on Mac’s hand as she was thrown to the hard ground. She rolled a few times before coming to a stop.

Riley knew she would have a few bruises from the experience, but other than that, amazingly, she was fine. She sat up and saw that she was in between two rows of vines. The trampoline was in front of her, bobbing slightly without the weight of the three agents.

Riley stood up and started to brush herself off as she looked around for Mac and Jack. She heard a loud whoop of excitement and knew that Jack was safe and sound on the other side of the trampoline.

“Whoo, baby, that was fun! Let’s do that again sometime!” Jack shouted as Riley picked her way through mangled grape vines to get to him. He was covered in dirt and seemed to have landed in between the rows as well. He had a wicked grin on his face and hugged Riley when she got to him. “You okay?” He asked, taking a break from his celebrating to check in with her.

“Yeah, I’m fine, where’s Mac?” Riley asked, stepping back from Jack and looking around. Jack’s grin faded and he opened his mouth to yell, but before he could, they heard a sound behind them.

“I’m right here,” Mac said tiredly. “I landed right on a row of vines.” He gingerly picked his way over to them. He looked okay, although he was clearly worse for wear than Jack and Riley. He had several small cuts all over his face and hands. Luckily, that old leather jacket of his protected the rest of him from the sharp branches.

“Man, that was probably the worst idea you’ve ever had, but somehow, it managed to work,” Jack said clapping Mac on the shoulder. Mac jumped slightly at the contact, but Jack didn’t seem to notice. Mac still looked pretty shaken and not at all like himself. Riley took her backpack off and dug around for the small first aid kit she’d started carrying.

“Jack, how about you call Matty and I’ll clean up Mac’s face,” Riley said.

“I’m fine,” Mac said, brushing off her concern.

“You bleeding, and I know you like to tough it out, but I’d rather not have you get an infection or something on my watch,” Riley pushed. Mac studied her for a few seconds, gauging how serious she was. Finally, he sighed and gestured for her to go ahead.

Riley led him away from Jack a few paces and instructed him to sit down. She sat down next to him and started gently cleaning his cuts. The one on his cheek was the worst, but the rest really weren’t too bad. Riley was mostly doing this to give Mac a chance to catch his breath.

“You okay?” Riley asked, noting that his hands were clasped together tightly in his lap.

“I’m fine, I told you these are just scratches,” He responded. He closed his eyes as she moved to a cut just above one of his eyes.

“I wasn’t talking about the cuts,” Riley said. She looked up to Mac and considered him to be like a big brother to her. But right now, seeing Mac scared and vulnerable, Riley was reminded that he actually wasn’t too much older than her. He always exuded so much confidence and intelligence that he seemed older than he was.

“Um, my hands won’t stop shaking,” Mac replied after a few moments of silence. He opened back up his eyes and held one of his hands out for Riley to see. It was indeed shaking. Riley took his hand gently and started cleaning a cut on the back of it.

“Well, that’s what happens when you come face to face with your greatest fear. Give it a few minutes and I’m sure you’ll be back to normal,” Riley said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Mac responded with a shaky breath. “Jack’s right, this was one of my worst ideas ever.”

“Maybe, but it worked, and it got us out of there. You saved our lives Mac, and you did it by putting yourself in a situation that freaked you out. Consider me impressed.”

“Yeah?” Mac said with a small crooked smile. He was beginning to look and sound more like himself, and as Riley moved on to his second hand, she noticed that it was no longer shaking.

“Dude, you recreated something out of a cartoon. Of course I’m impressed,” Riley said causing Mac to laugh.

“Hey, how come when I said that, I got yelled at?” Jack protested as he walked over to them.

“Because you said it to tease Mac. I said it to compliment him,” Riley pointed out.

“Fair enough, so Matty is sending an exfil team to us to help smooth things out with the owner of this winery,” Jack said.

“We’d better move the trampoline and pop the rest of those balloons,” Mac said, standing up with a sigh. He looked at the trampoline with a grimace. “I don’t think I will ever see balloons the same way.”

“I’ll help with the popping,” Jack said eagerly, pulling out his gun. Mac pushed his arm down and instead handed him a stick.

“Let’s not waste bullets,” Mac said. Jack shrugged and replaced his gun. Then he started making his way back to the trampoline. Riley started to follow him but was stopped by Mac’s hand on her arm. “Hey thanks, Riles, both for…” He gestured to his face, “and for the pep talk.”

“Anytime Mac,” Riley smiled brightly at him. “Now let’s go, because I don’t think Jack realizes that it will be harder to move the trampoline if he pops the balloons first.”

A loud pop filled the air, proving Riley’s point. Mac and Riley grinned at each other before hurrying off in the direction of Jack.


End file.
